Welsh Nightmare

This is my submission for day 12 of The Halls of Pandemonium from Bradley Ramsey, as per the picture below.

This is a tale of a long gone Welsh day,
that started in much of a usual way.
Up early, some food, they kiss kids and wife,
then off to the mine. It's quite a hard life.

The miners from here had been doing it years,
they never seemed worried, despite family fears.
The children all said that the mines there were haunted.
Their fathers (and some Mums, as well) were undaunted.

Despite all the danger, the pitch and the black.
There was never a time they all didn't come back.
Setting off from the valley through bright hazy weather,
The crew met at the top of the mine altogether.

A lone magpie sat on the top of the shaft.
"Sorrow" said Ray. Dylan said "don't be daft".
They joked and they laughed, Ray kept looking behind.
"You think too much Ray, just chill and unwind".

No chilling would come as they headed below,
they switched their headlamps on to give them some glow.
They hadn't for too long been under the ground,
when they heard an unusual underground sound.

They heard some light chirping, a finch or a sparrow,
no one wanted to say but inside seemed more narrow.
It was rare that they should hear the sound of a bird
usually just banter and breathing were heard.

The sound soon went quiet and out of their head,
though just moments later, they found the bird, dead.
The lamps started flickering, this was quite weird.
Ray started nervously stroking his beard.

The oldest one there, a grey-haired man called Royce,
asked the others to stop as he could hear a voice .
The others stood quiet, they could hear it too.
Still, they headed on, there was a job to do.

Suddenly the whole mine, it rolled and it rocked,
when they looked behind them, the entrance was blocked.
Debris, wood and coal it had left them enclosed
but despite being caved in, they all felt exposed.

The unbearable warmth that was usually there,
was replaced by unnatural chill in the air.
The men were in a line, they felt, didn't speak
when from further down came some kind of harsh shriek.

Their lamps went out again and when they returned,
the youngest one, Pete was just still, black and burned.
Panic then set in, the men started to yell,
then heat started to rise, this had become hell.

Men huddled together, stood still in shock.
It went dark again and they heard; knock, knock, knock.
The lights returned again but then soon went out
when they came back on, Dylan's insides were out.

The cycle repeated and this third go round,
they came back and Ray's head, it lay on the ground.
Royce was frozen in panic, he heard his heart thud.
The floor where they'd stood was soon covered in blood.

No one realised there was something wrong 'til that night,
when no-one returned home, it started a fright,
amongst families who’d never known loss like this,
wives keeping the memories…. that final kiss.

The shaft cleared, a search party looked underground,
but not one trace of those lost miners was found.
Not a helmet a wallet, their travelling cart.
No traces of life, not a stray body part.

Those families, left with hearts forever broken,
memories of that last morn, not more than a token.
They prayed, though no answers came, true or divine
as to what happened that day in the dark if the mine

An unfortunate thing, that which caused death,
and suffering and pain, the last remnants of breath.
When they went down that day, they couldn't foresee,
That they would meet their end and that end…. was me.

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